How to Train Your Dragon: 7 biggest changes from the animated movie to the live-action

How to Train Your Dragon is a 2025 live-action remake fantasy adventure film of the 2010 computer-animated movie of the same name, and the latter loosely based on the 2003 novel by Cressida Cowell.

It features Mason Thames, Nico Parker, Gabriel Howell, Julian Dennison, Bronwyn James, Harry Trevaldwyn, Peter Serafinowicz, and Nick Frost, with Gerard Butler returning as Stoick the Vast from the animated show.

In the Viking village of Berk, Hiccup, a clumsy but smart chief’s son, struggles to prove himself. After secretly bonding with a dragon, he learns they aren't the monsters he thought, setting him on a path that challenges everything he knows about bravery.

The characters, setting, and plot of How to Train Your Dragon are largely true to the original. The live-action version makes some key changes to main characters and scenes that add emotional weight and nuance in subtle but significant ways.

Here is a list of the seven biggest changes from the animated version.

Disclaimer: The following list is ranked in no particular order, and the opinions expressed belong solely to the author.

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The dragon’s nest is scarier and 6 other biggest changes in live-action How to Train Your Dragon compared to the animated version

1) How to Train Your Dragon takes on a more serious tone in its live-action reimagining

While both versions share the same plot and characters, the live-action film has a darker tone (Image via Instagram/@httydragon)

The most glaring deviation between How to Train Your Dragon and its animated counterpart is tone, a quiet distinction that permeates almost everything about the story. While both live-action and animated movies share the same basic plot and character development, the new movie is quite a bit darker in tone.

The fight scenes between Stoick and Hiccup are more aggressive, and the live-action is more interested in how Stoick's sarcastic jokes emotionally affect his son. This change in tone makes the live-action remake unique, and it becomes its own thing without the sense of being a scene-for-scene remake.

The realism that comes from the live-action medium makes the emotional tension greater, making the conflicts seem more real and making the moments of loss, such as Stoick thinking that Hiccup is dead, land harder. This darker tone then enables the remake to pay homage to the original but provide something new.

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2) The dragon’s nest is more threatening in live-action How to Train Your Dragon

A still from the movie (Image via Instagram/@httydragon)

One of the tonal changes most relevant to the new How to Train Your Dragon is its embracing of a darker, earthier tone. A departure from the stylized, bright hues of the animated film, the live-action version has more intense emotional set pieces, a grittier world, and dragons actually that much more intimidating.

This is especially noticeable during the scene where Stoick takes the Vikings out to find the nest of dragons.

In the animated movie, much of this scene occurs off-stage. In the live-action version, however, the audience is placed squarely in the middle of a battle, with the Vikings being attacked by dragons and confronted by a giant beast that churns under the surface of the water.

The look of the scene is strongly horror-based, with a sense of foreboding and urgency that was tightly wound up in the original.

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3) Hiccup’s mom, Valka, gets more focus

A still from the live-action movie (Image via Instagram/@httydragon)

One of the smart but effective tweaks on the live-action How to Train Your Dragon is that more importance is given to Hiccup's mom, Valka. Her appearance is not seen in either the original version or the remake, but her lack is felt much more strongly in the remake.

In the original movie, Valka is mentioned when Stoick presents Hiccup with a helmet made from her breastplate. But in the live-action movie, it is more overtly suggested that she was killed by a dragon and this tragedy quietly informs Stoick's enduring anti-dragonism.

Placing Valka's death as a motivator behind both Hiccup and Stoick's actions creates emotional depth to the live-action movie. This placement is especially interesting considering what fans have learned from the animated sequels, in particular, that Valka is indeed alive and has been living with the dragons, becoming one of their defenders.

In this situation, the live-action movie's brushstrokes about her destiny feel like deliberate setup for her dramatic return in the already-announced sequel.

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4) A scene from the original was removed in the How to Train Your Dragon remake

A scene was cut in the How to Train Your Dragon remake (Image via Instagram/@httydragon)

Although the remake of How to Train Your Dragon mostly follows the original, one adrenaline-pumping scene from the animated movie is nowhere to be found. Both films feature Hiccup and Toothless's first flight as they build their connection.

But in the remake, the scene is interrupted in the middle, leaving out the toned-down post-flight scene that provided depth in the first movie.

First, following a cliff-edge crash, Hiccup and Toothless have a lighthearted run-in with baby dragons. In the course of this, Toothless briefly dazes one with a blast of fire, a little but significant detail to which he later returns in the climax.

This brief, but significant, moment is omitted in the remake, removing a delicate level of foreshadowing that had served to seal the story in a cycle before.

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5) Gobber’s missing leg is changed in the live-action How to Train Your Dragon

Gobber’s missing leg is changed in the live-action movie (Image via Instagram/@httydragon)

Gobber remains faithful to his original characterization in both How to Train Your Dragon movies, Nick Frost's live-action version still retaining the character's rough exterior and inner niceness. A slight adjustment was made, however, to his physique in the interest of accommodating Frost's real-world impairment.

In the animated movie, Gobber is missing his left arm and right leg. In the live-action version, it is his left leg that is gone instead. The character was adjusted to fit the actor’s physical needs while still staying true to Gobber’s essence.

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6) Fishlegs is friendlier in live-action How to Train Your Dragon

A still from the movie (Image via Universal Pictures)

Both versions of How to Train Your Dragon feature Fishlegs as a book-smart, dragon-loving teenager who wants to impart his knowledge. The live-action version tones him down and makes him look more authentic-looking.

Instead of overwhelming info dumps, his enthusiasm is presented in a more thoughtful and welcoming way, making him seem genuinely helpful.

This is particularly relevant in the remake during Hiccup's moment of crisis, his "first kill." When the dragon rampages around Hiccup, Fishlegs automatically extends through the fence to assist, a useless but sincere motion that reflects the stronger connection between the remake cast.

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7) The thorston twins are no longer lookalikes in How to Train Your Dragon

A still from the live-action movie (Image via Universal Pictures)

Ruffnut and Tuffnut Thorston reappear in the live-action version of How to Train Your Dragon with some changes.

Depicted initially as identical twins in the animated movie, the remake presents them as fraternal twins who think they are identical twins. They are also depicted as older than the rest of the teenagers, having been held back multiple times at training.

The pair now features Bronwyn James' red hair, instead of their original blonde appearance. These adjustments imply that their lives in the follow-up movies can quite possibly be explored differently.

Animated trilogy featured more focus on Ruffnut by way of romance subplots and continued to feature Tuffnut as comedic relief, but live-action movies can do the same or branch off from their directions completely.

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How to Train Your Dragon live-action movie is now showing in theaters.

Edited by Moakala T Aier